Re: Topband: Preamplifiers
Andy, The Clifton Labs Norton and the RPA-1 are both Push-pull designs and thus have high +80dBm second order intercepts. This is essential to avoid BCB mixing products affecting TB. Single ended amplifiers like the W7IUV may need some pre BCB filtering. 73 Andrew Ikin G8LUG _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Preamplifiers
andy, for many years i used the Palomar preamp. it worked well in the presence of a 50kw AM station on 1550khz. though it may be of older design and there are better pre-amps available it may be available at reasonable cost. good luck. larry n7dd -Original Message- From: Andrew Ikin andrew.i...@btopenworld.com To: Andy YO3JR andyru...@gmail.com; topband topband@contesting.com Sent: Tue, Feb 3, 2015 1:55 pm Subject: Re: Topband: Preamplifiers Andy, The Clifton Labs Norton and the RPA-1 are both Push-pull designs and thus have high +80dBm second order intercepts. This is essential to avoid BCB mixing products affecting TB. Single ended amplifiers like the W7IUV may need some pre BCB filtering. 73 Andrew Ikin G8LUG _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Preamplifiers
On 2015-02-03, at 1:19 AM, Charlie Cunningham wrote: Hi, Eddy I used one of the old Ameco vacuum tube preamp/pre-selectors, that I borrowed from my friend, bill, K4CIA, for my KAZ terminated receiving loops several years ago. It was great! - had plenty of gain and because it was vacuum tube, it wasn't susceptible to damage from transmit RF picked up in the loop. I no longer have the KAZ loop, but I'm going to build another one. Bill had a second newer JFET version o fthe Ameco, that I bought from him. I expect I'll have to take more care with protecting the JFET device. T he old vacuum tube Ameco pream work great onn 160, 80, 40 and 30m, where I used it. F course I didn't need it with the 5-band quad for the higher bands - mostly on loop on 160, where the antenna gain was low, but it was a very quiet antenna, and I heard things on 160 that I couldn't hear before. I ran the Ameco into the receive antenna input on my FT-1000MP. Worked great! 73, Charlie, K4OTV\ Hi Charlie, Yes, they do, indeed, work great for me, too... I have both the AMECO nuvistor version here that I place before my old back-up Drake R-4---and which I got for a mere five bucks at a Hamfest!---as well as the solidstate version that I had before my K9AY loops Beverage antenna. As I mentioned before, if overly strong signals happen to overload either one, I merely reduce the gain on them. Why any Ham who sees these wonderful old devices practically being GIVEN away at 'fests doesn't pick them up, is beyond me---I guess the more proper thing to do anymore is to whip out the ol' VISA card, to buy a more modern designer pre-amp! ~73!~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Preamplifiers
This is what I use: www.w0btu.com/W0BTU-broadband-preamps.html 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Mon, Feb 2, 2015 at 3:08 PM, Andy YO3JR andyru...@gmail.com wrote: Can someone recommend me a good preamplifier for the beverage antennas on 80/160m? I found on the market a few like Z10043 Norton Amplifier, KD9SV dual band preamp, RPA-1 from DX Engineering. _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Preamplifiers
I was going to mention both Clifton Labs and the Active-Antenna.eu site. Mike va3mw On Mon, Feb 2, 2015 at 7:10 PM, donov...@starpower.net wrote: Hi Andy , I use preamps from three different manufacturers in my station : - DX Engineering RPA-1 $143.95 - Clifton Labs Z10043 (or Z10042) Norton Preamp $100.00 (with enclosure) - Advanced Receiver Research P1-30/20VD $69.95 I use W3LPL bandpass filters in front of every preamp because of the extreme out-of-band signal levels in my multi-multi station. All three types of preamps perform very well, I've detected no practical difference in performance among the three types of preamps used on my Beverages and 8-circle receiving arrays. The Clifton Labs Norton preamp is clearly superior on 15 and 10 meters because it appears to be unconditionally stable. The same is not true of the ARR preamps which self-oscillate on 15 and 10 meters when fed through a band pass filter. I've never observed the self- oscillation problem with ARR preamps on 160 through 20 meters. 73 Frank W3LPL - Original Message - From: Mike Waters mikew...@gmail.com To: Andy YO3JR andyru...@gmail.com Cc: topband topband@contesting.com Sent: Monday, February 2, 2015 9:17:32 PM Subject: Re: Topband: Preamplifiers This is what I use: www.w0btu.com/W0BTU-broadband-preamps.html 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Mon, Feb 2, 2015 at 3:08 PM, Andy YO3JR andyru...@gmail.com wrote: Can someone recommend me a good preamplifier for the beverage antennas on 80/160m? I found on the market a few like Z10043 Norton Amplifier, KD9SV dual band preamp, RPA-1 from DX Engineering. _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Preamplifiers
You might consider building a W7IUV preamp. It is a very easy to build boradband preamp that you can build using double sided circuit board in which you can easily cut in the pattern on one side of the circuit board using a Dremel tool, and the opposite side is the ground plane. I created a website to document my builds of this preamp, and here is my website URL in which I provide the artwork for the circuit board, along with parts placement. On my website I also provide a link to the W7IUV website where you can find the most current schematic. http://sites.google.com/site/rxpreamps/ This preamp can handle very strong input signals without being harmed. Gain approximately 20 to 22 dB. 73, Don (wd8dsb) On Mon, Feb 2, 2015 at 4:08 PM, Andy YO3JR andyru...@gmail.com wrote: Hi, Can someone recommend me a good preamplifier for the beverage antennas on 80/160m? I found on the market a few like Z10043 Norton Amplifier, KD9SV dual band preamp, RPA-1 from DX Engineering. Anyone familiar with this preamps? Looking forward for replies. Thanks in advance! Best regards, Andy YO3JR _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Preamplifiers
On 2015-02-02, at 4:08 PM, Andy YO3JR wrote: Can someone recommend me a good preamplifier for the beverage antennas on 80/160m? Best regards, Andy YO3JR Hi Andy, All I ever used here was an old AMECO-brand pre-selector that I paid $10.00 for, I believe, at a Hamfest... If signals get too loud distort, all I do is reduce the gain on the thing. Works perfectly for me, even if it isn't ...politically correct in to-day's Topband scene...! ~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Preamplifiers
J310 push-pull HF pre-amp KIT BUILT TESTED This is also one option, I use it with excelent results.It is sold as a kit also.SV3RF-Agelos | | | | | | | | | | | J310 push-pull HF pre-amp KIT BUILT TESTEDUS $29.90 New in Consumer Electronics, Radio Communication, Ham, Amateur Radio | | | | View on www.ebay.com | Preview by Yahoo | | | | | _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Preamplifiers
Z10043 used here. It's sold by Jack Smith K8ZOA who is an instrumentation and test engineer - which means all of his stuff is wrung out to the max. In the preamp business, there are a lot of loosely defined claims but with Jack's preamps, if you want a specific or special test performed on your unit (for example, trimmed for optimal NF) he can arrange it. 73/jeff/ac0c www.ac0c.com alpha-charlie-zero-charlie -Original Message- From: donov...@starpower.net Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2015 9:10 AM To: topband Cc: andyru...@gmail.com Subject: Re: Topband: Preamplifiers Hi Andy , I use preamps from three different manufacturers in my station : - DX Engineering RPA-1 $143.95 - Clifton Labs Z10043 (or Z10042) Norton Preamp $100.00 (with enclosure) - Advanced Receiver Research P1-30/20VD $69.95 I use W3LPL bandpass filters in front of every preamp because of the extreme out-of-band signal levels in my multi-multi station. All three types of preamps perform very well, I've detected no practical difference in performance among the three types of preamps used on my Beverages and 8-circle receiving arrays. The Clifton Labs Norton preamp is clearly superior on 15 and 10 meters because it appears to be unconditionally stable. The same is not true of the ARR preamps which self-oscillate on 15 and 10 meters when fed through a band pass filter. I've never observed the self- oscillation problem with ARR preamps on 160 through 20 meters. 73 Frank W3LPL - Original Message - From: Mike Waters mikew...@gmail.com To: Andy YO3JR andyru...@gmail.com Cc: topband topband@contesting.com Sent: Monday, February 2, 2015 9:17:32 PM Subject: Re: Topband: Preamplifiers This is what I use: www.w0btu.com/W0BTU-broadband-preamps.html 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Mon, Feb 2, 2015 at 3:08 PM, Andy YO3JR andyru...@gmail.com wrote: Can someone recommend me a good preamplifier for the beverage antennas on 80/160m? I found on the market a few like Z10043 Norton Amplifier, KD9SV dual band preamp, RPA-1 from DX Engineering. _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
